Reversing mechanism



Aug. 10, 19 E. H. RATZBURG REVERSING MECHANISM 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledMay 4, 1942 mm Emil li fafzbuly.

MZQQFW 4 y I I I 1E l1 m Aug. 10, 1943- E. H. RATZBURG I REVERSINGMECHANISM Filed May 4, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Elma/mm l'mf/ fiffafzburfgfPatented Aug. 10, 1941:

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE navnnsr nt tzziiinamsm v Emil l1. Ratzbm'z,Shenandoah, Pa. Application May 4, 1942, Serial No. 441,679

1 Claim.

This invention relates to a reversing mechanism for steam or air enginesand more particularly'to an upright single cylinder engine wherein thecylinder is pivotally mounted and the piston thereof or its stem isconnected to a power takeoff shaft, the fluid pressure beingalternatingly admitted and exhausted at opposite ends of the cylinder.The primary object of this invention is the provision of a durable andsimple construction of valve mechanism employed between thecylihder andthe fluid pressure source whereby through the operation of a single handlever, the flow of fiuid pressure to and from. the ends of the cylindermay be reversed and thereby bring about rotation of the power shaftineither direction desired.

With these and other objects in view as will become more apparent as thedescription proceeds, theinvention consists in certain novel features ofconstruction, combination and arrangement of parts as will behereinafter more fully described and claimed. 1

For a complete understanding of my invention, reference is to be had tothe following description and accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1is a side elevation, partly in section, illustrating an upright singlecylinder engine equipped with a reversing mechanism constructed inaccordance with my invention.

Figure 2 is an edge elevation illustrating the engine with the reversingmechanism applied thereto.

Figure 3 is a side elevation illustrating the reversing mechanismpositioned for the operation of the power takeofi shaft in a reversedirection from that shown in Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a sectional view 55 of Figure 3.

Referring in detail to the drawings, the numeral 5 indicates a base onwhich is formed a plate-like upright 6 for the support of a powertakeoff shaft 1 and a cylinder 8; The power takeoff shaft is suitablyjournaled in the upright taken on the line passages 19 and and isequipped at one end with a combined fly wheel and pulley 9. The otherend of the shaft 1 is in the form of a crank III on which is journaled astem H of a piston l2 reciprocally mounted in the cylinder 8. A suitablestufiing gland I3 is provided between cylinder and the stem H to preventleakage. The cylinder adjacent its ends and upon one side thereof, isprovided with ports l4 and I5. The purpose of the ports is toalternatingly admit one end of the and exhaust fluid pressure toopposite sides of the piston l2 for the purpose of bringing aboutreciprocation thereof in the cylinder and which brings about rotation ofthe shaft I.

The cylinder 8 is pivotally and yieldably mounted on the upright 6, asshown at 16, with the ports arranged opposite to one of the side facesof the upright and in which is formed pairs of ports l1 and I8 adaptedto communicate with the ports l4 and I5 during the pivotal movement ofthe cylinder 8 on the upright caused by the motion of the crank of theshaft 1. The port-s l1 and I8 are, in direct communication with 20formed in the upper portion of the upright 6 and which communicate witha valve chamber 2| formed in said upright and also communicate withexhaust ports 22 and 23 alternatingly opened and closed to theatmosphere by a slidable valve plate 24, the latter being-provided withports 25 which may be moved into and out of registration with the ports22 and 23 in an alternate manner.

The valve plate 24 has slidable contact with one side face of theupright so that the ports 25 thereof may be moved to open and close theports 22 and 23 to the atmosphere. The valve plate 24 is mounted on avalve element 26 slidably mounted in the valve chamber. and is providedat one end with a stop 21 and has its opposite end pivotally connectedto a hand lever 28 pivoted on the upright, as shown at 29.

Formed in the valve element 26 is a passage 30 having in communicationtherewith ports 3| and 32. The passage 30 is in continuous communicationwith a fluid pressure supply port 33 at all times and to which a fluidpressure supply pipe 34 is connected.

When the valve element 26 is in one position the port 3| thereof is incommunication with the passage l9 and the passage 20 is then closed tothe passage 30 by the valve element. However, the valve plate 24 is thenpositioned so that one of the ports 25 aligns with the port 23 whichplaces the passage 20 in direct communication with the atmosphere forexhaust purposes. It will thus be seen that the flow of fluid pressurewill be into the passage l9, thence into the upper part of the cylinderto act on the piston in a downward direction. Any fluid which may be inthe lower portion of the cylinder at that time is driven therefrom tothe atmosphere by way of the passage 20 by the downward movement of thepiston. As the piston nears its lowermost position in the cylinder, thecrank acts to pivot the cylinder to bring the port 15 incommunicamunication with the passage 20, so that the fluid pressure maythen enter the lower portion of the cylinder and drive the pistonupwardly while the fluid in the upper portion of the cylinder may escapeto the atmosphere by way of the passage 20 be seen that a veryefficient, durable and practical reversing mechanism has been providedfor an upright engine of the single cylinder type, wherein the powertakeoff shaft may be caused to rotate in either direction whenever it isdesired by a simple manipulation of the hand lever, the latter bringingabout the desired movement of the valve element as well as the valveplate.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of myinvention, it will be understood that minor changes in construction,combination and arrangement of parts may be made without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is:

In combination with an upright single cylinder fluid pressure engineincluding a cylinder mounted for pivotal movement and having portsadjacent the ends thereof and a piston slidable in the cylinder betweensaid ports and connected port 3| thereof out of' 2,326,494 tion with thepassage is and the port I 4 in comto a power takeoff crank shaft, anelongated V munication with the flat vertically arranged supportingplate having the cylinder pivoted thereto and rotatably supporting thecrank shaft, said plate having a pair of passages and pairs of ports indirect communin therewith, said ports adapted to altematingly connectwith the ports of the cylinder during the pivotal movement of the latterby the rotation of the crank shaft driven by fluid pressure acting firston one side of the piston and then on the other side thereof from one ofsaid passages during the rotation of the crank shaft in one directionand from the other passage during rotation of the crank shaft in anopposite direction, the passage notfurnishing fluid pressure to thecylinder during the rotation of the crank shaft in the selecteddirection provides pressure from the cylinder, said plate having exhaustports in direct compassages, said plate having a cylindrical valvechamber in communication with the passages and a fluid intake portconnecting with said chamber and'with a fluid pressure source, acylindrical valve element manually slidable in said chamber and providedwith a passage in constant communication with the intake port and havingports connecting with the latternamed passage and adapted to bealternatingly connected with the flrst-named passages by the sliding ofthe valve-element for reversing the fluid pressure flow to thefirst-named passages, a valve plate connected to said valve element andslidable on'the outside of the supporting plate and provided withexhaust ports to be alternatingly aligned with the first-named exhaustports; and a hand lever pivotally mounted on the supporting plate andconnected to the valve element for the manual sliding thereof inopposite directions.

EMIL H. RATZBURG.

